Moving established SPS reef tank from GA to sFL – Advice Requested

[r33f_Hack3r]

Hi Reefers,

I will be relocating my SPS dominate reef tanks (~160g total – 90g DT and 40g frag all connected to same sump) from Ga to South Florida in the coming months. I am looking for advice from other reefers that have had success with long-distance moves with large amounts of delicate coral. Happy to give away some frags for helpful advice.

The tanks, rocks, and system have been well-established for several years, although I do have low to medium-grade issues with aptasia, vermitid snails, nuisance palys and mushrooms, and algae (only in the frag tank).

I will get access to the new place in FL 15 days before I give up the current place in GA. I can get a new tank setup prior to driving livestock down. I will move my furniture and things first, then tank / livestock on another trip. My goal is NOT to start fresh and not to bring over problems.

Ideally, I can bring my fish, sps, and other coral into their new home with little time in temporary tanks w/ 8 hour drive and have an established healthy tank in FL to put them in promptly. May build a new aquascape for the new tank in fl but I can always have a secondary sump (tub) with old live rock to seed the system with. I have seen posts about rip cleaning before moving, as well as other techniques and not sure all that’s necessary.

I am looking for the best practice answers on the details of what is required and not required in order to transfer the ecosystem correctly with the best possible outcome. Ha, straightforward questions, right? I am on the fence about going to bare bottom, or, with new sand, or a mix of new and current sand.

My initial thoughts and questions are the following. Seems like I will need two car trips no matter but open to suggestions -

• Start keeping the water I am removing during water changes. Bucket it up and take it on the first trip down to start the new tank in fl (thinking a 210 gal plus frag tank). How much water is necessary to keep the established ecosystem? Do temp and the amount of storage time of water matter?
• Take out some rock from the existing tank and transport it on the first trip to fl in order to help establish the new tank.
• Ditch the sand and go bare bottom or get new sand or half new / half rinsed.
• For frags and colonies – bag um up or modify coolers with frag racks in them and rubber band on bottom of plug so they stay in place in cooler? Thinking I will need a mix – some bagged, some can be on rack etc
• Rocks with overgrowth of palys or “nuisance coral” – toss the entire rock, kill it off, or chisel off the bad parts
• I will be moving in June, so it will be hot – what’s the best way to temp control buckets with fish, bags w/ frags, or coolers w/ frag racks
• Will certainly be selling some of the coral, fragging some of the colonies as just in case backups

My system consists of the following and there is a video link below

• 90g Display tank (sand bottom, good amount of live rock that I have had for a while, some rocks have nuisance palys and mushrooms)
• 40g breeder for frag tank. Has some algae growth, as I recently replaced the rack after an aptasia outbreak
• Trigger system platinum 39 sump that filters both tanks
• Full apex system, trident, dos pumps, etc

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Reefer-Madness]

I’m following along on this thread because I’m about to move a tank myself. Best of luck!

 

[90gDreams]

I moved lots of tanks, near annually, the first stint in the hobby. Then I went from Atl to Tampa with a 90g as the last move. I think the key is to ditch the sand bed and start with fresh sand. Also just be ready to do lots of big water changes if things start going south. Since you have a two week heads start I'd really consider having at least 1 or 2 of the 35g brutes full of new saltwater. If you have any ammonia spikes just start hitting big water changes.

I didn't give any though to temperature control beyond I drove down in one day and had the corals and fish in buckets in the trunk of my car so they didn't sit in a box truck cooking or anything like that. I did not run air stones or anything either.

If you think about it, it's not really different than overnighting frags or fish.

 

[tangueray]

I moved a 55 gallon tank from Philadelphia to Atlanta about 10 years ago. It was a 12 hour drive in the summer. My biggest issue was keeping everything cool. I bought Styrofoam coolers and double lined them with heavy duty trash bags. I separated fish, LR, and corals. I ditched the live sand. I froze several water bottles and tossed them in the coolers to keep the water temp down. Fish were individually bagged with clean saltwater. I put in some of the Stress Coat with aloe additive from API (from my fresh water days) into each bag. Frags where stuck into foam and packed upside down in a cooler.

After 12 hours of driving. All the fish that were individually bagged survived. A twospot blenny and flame hawkfish that hid in the LR did not survive the transit. I had a 75 gallon in ATL with new saltwater mixed in already. I moved everything to the next tank without any issues. Ammonia spiked a little after the 2nd day, but all the fish and corals were happy for the most part.